Chris Mason

[Zapp Brannigan]

Chris has a great darting brain, and would offer loads to the BDO board.

Would he want the job - almost certainly not - but it needs someone with Chris’s experience and clout within the game - working alongside some professional marketing people who would drag it into the twenty first century.

The BDO have the talent coming through (always have done) but they need a proper tour to keep them interested until they inevitably join the PDC.

With the right management and foresight the BDO ‘COULD’ become an official feeder system to the PDC.

Mmmmm waste of time setting up the JDC , Dev tour , Challenge tour , Baltic tour etc I presume Barry wants these tours to be the official feeder system to the pro tour .

Hi Paul,

Believe me when I say I ‘GENUINELY’ believe that the BDO is THE best feeder system to the PDC.

It simply HAS to be - Pub, Superleague, County - has always been the best route to the top, and tonight’s World Darts Trophy action has cemented that opinion in my mind.

Lee,

It was, I honestly don’t think it is now

Super league and county round here is the same faces playing every week that played 10 years ago, our county side is still largely decided by whose friends with who.

The young lads coming through are going straight down the singles route. Local Riley’s doing weekly tournaments with a final every 6onths for the best players, top 2 get qschool paid for them and the rest go any way. Mark Wilson getting through last year and getting a card is only going to push more young lads round here to give it a go.

As for the topic question the last thing the bdo needs is a ex player. They either need a businessman taking over or they need to seriously speed to hearne. Also I doubt mace would even do it, he’s not going to give up his pdc commentary and I bet if they offered him more gigs he would jump at it

The ship has certainly sailed with respect that the BDO could be an official feeder. The PDC have created a Developement and Challenge tour system for player 16-23 in the UK. JDC takes it even younger. They now have an Asian tour with over 128 players turning up at each of the first two weekends. I can’t see it slowing down to much with Japan and Philippines hosting two of the remaining weekends.

The PDC also has the DPA in Australia which is now starting to speed up the process of bringing through new players. The CDC which isn’t an official partner of the PDC yet is certainly doing everything they can to be like the PDC I’m sure they will start to produce players for the main tour in the next 5 years.

The PDC don’t need big turn over of players year on year. Yes they need players who can compete but if each tour found on average 2 new players a year that’s 12 players which is more than enough.

Why would the PDC want to deal with a brand that seems to have toxic people at its core

The PDC did a big u-turn in the way they went about the BDO, they gave them the little offer of picking their own players for the GSOD whilst at the same time the PDC went round the world setting up their own national tours and massively improving the JDC/Challenge tours culminating in making the people chose the challenge tour as a route and giving Qschool a massive incentive.

You now have a situation where the PDC has a full tour top to bottom, Junior, Youth, amateur, professional, top level and they have feeder systems from all round the world now. All the while the BDO are still thinking they have the best system for amateurs (ive seen it said so many times this weekend alone).

They don't realize the PDC have quietly made them completely irrelevant now. The media couldn't give a shit about them, TV companies only want the PDC tournaments leaving the BDO to having to go to minor stations. And this is why an ex player going to the BDO or someone that honestly thinks the BDO can compete is going to destroy them, they dont see that the BDO is no longer a competitor. Any buisnesman would tell them to back away and shore up their grass rotues.

The only thing they can do at this point is to work with the PDC. Offer themselves to take over the challenge tour/development tour, opening them up for everyone and making the big opens Challenge tour point and in exchange convince the PDC to offer a womens tour or something like that.

[oche balboa]

Chris has a great darting brain, and would offer loads to the BDO board.

Would he want the job - almost certainly not - but it needs someone with Chris’s experience and clout within the game - working alongside some professional marketing people who would drag it into the twenty first century.

The BDO have the talent coming through (always have done) but they need a proper tour to keep them interested until they inevitably join the PDC.

With the right management and foresight the BDO ‘COULD’ become an official feeder system to the PDC.

No no no ...... BDO needs to be alternative to the PDC where people (Like Hamilton & Newton) could drop into and still play in good events with good prize money and struture

It's an official feeder system to the PDC anyway

[oche balboa]

Mmmmm waste of time setting up the JDC , Dev tour , Challenge tour , Baltic tour etc I presume Barry wants these tours to be the official feeder system to the pro tour .

Hi Paul,

Believe me when I say I ‘GENUINELY’ believe that the BDO is THE best feeder system to the PDC.

It simply HAS to be - Pub, Superleague, County - has always been the best route to the top, and tonight’s World Darts Trophy action has cemented that opinion in my mind.

Lee,

It was, I honestly don’t think it is now

Super league and county round here is the same faces playing every week that played 10 years ago, our county side is still largely decided by whose friends with who.

The young lads coming through are going straight down the singles route. Local Riley’s doing weekly tournaments with a final every 6onths for the best players, top 2 get qschool paid for them and the rest go any way. Mark Wilson getting through last year and getting a card is only going to push more young lads round here to give it a go.

As for the topic question the last thing the bdo needs is a ex player. They either need a businessman taking over or they need to seriously speed to hearne. Also I doubt mace would even do it, he’s not going to give up his pdc commentary and I bet if they offered him more gigs he would jump at it

The ship has certainly sailed with respect that the BDO could be an official feeder. The PDC have created a Developement and Challenge tour system for player 16-23 in the UK. JDC takes it even younger. They now have an Asian tour with over 128 players turning up at each of the first two weekends. I can’t see it slowing down to much with Japan and Philippines hosting two of the remaining weekends.

The PDC also has the DPA in Australia which is now starting to speed up the process of bringing through new players. The CDC which isn’t an official partner of the PDC yet is certainly doing everything they can to be like the PDC I’m sure they will start to produce players for the main tour in the next 5 years.

The PDC don’t need big turn over of players year on year. Yes they need players who can compete but if each tour found on average 2 new players a year that’s 12 players which is more than enough.

Why would the PDC want to deal with a brand that seems to have toxic people at its core

The PDC did a big u-turn in the way they went about the BDO, they gave them the little offer of picking their own players for the GSOD whilst at the same time the PDC went round the world setting up their own national tours and massively improving the JDC/Challenge tours culminating in making the people chose the challenge tour as a route and giving Qschool a massive incentive.

You now have a situation where the PDC has a full tour top to bottom, Junior, Youth, amateur, professional, top level and they have feeder systems from all round the world now. All the while the BDO are still thinking they have the best system for amateurs (ive seen it said so many times this weekend alone).

They don't realize the PDC have quietly made them completely irrelevant now. The media couldn't give a shit about them, TV companies only want the PDC tournaments leaving the BDO to having to go to minor stations. And this is why an ex player going to the BDO or someone that honestly thinks the BDO can compete is going to destroy them, they dont see that the BDO is no longer a competitor. Any buisnesman would tell them to back away and shore up their grass rotues.

The only thing they can do at this point is to work with the PDC. Offer themselves to take over the challenge tour/development tour, opening them up for everyone and making the big opens Challenge tour point and in exchange convince the PDC to offer a womens tour or something like that.

PDC have set up their own system, But this doesnt mean BDO should just simply pack up 1,000s of players (From across the world) still play in WDF/BDO competitions, and will continue to do so. Both orgs should provide opportunities & Safety nets for players. Its great that a majority of players from around the world can play in both orgs and can qualify for either worlds.

BDO shouldnt try and compete with the PDC. But it should offer an alternative, at the moment the Williams are not offering this as many players within the PDC could do with a few years playing in the BDO.

[Zapp Brannigan]

Hi Paul,

Believe me when I say I ‘GENUINELY’ believe that the BDO is THE best feeder system to the PDC.

It simply HAS to be - Pub, Superleague, County - has always been the best route to the top, and tonight’s World Darts Trophy action has cemented that opinion in my mind.

Lee,

It was, I honestly don’t think it is now

Super league and county round here is the same faces playing every week that played 10 years ago, our county side is still largely decided by whose friends with who.

The young lads coming through are going straight down the singles route. Local Riley’s doing weekly tournaments with a final every 6onths for the best players, top 2 get qschool paid for them and the rest go any way. Mark Wilson getting through last year and getting a card is only going to push more young lads round here to give it a go.

As for the topic question the last thing the bdo needs is a ex player. They either need a businessman taking over or they need to seriously speed to hearne. Also I doubt mace would even do it, he’s not going to give up his pdc commentary and I bet if they offered him more gigs he would jump at it

The ship has certainly sailed with respect that the BDO could be an official feeder. The PDC have created a Developement and Challenge tour system for player 16-23 in the UK. JDC takes it even younger. They now have an Asian tour with over 128 players turning up at each of the first two weekends. I can’t see it slowing down to much with Japan and Philippines hosting two of the remaining weekends.

The PDC also has the DPA in Australia which is now starting to speed up the process of bringing through new players. The CDC which isn’t an official partner of the PDC yet is certainly doing everything they can to be like the PDC I’m sure they will start to produce players for the main tour in the next 5 years.

The PDC don’t need big turn over of players year on year. Yes they need players who can compete but if each tour found on average 2 new players a year that’s 12 players which is more than enough.

Why would the PDC want to deal with a brand that seems to have toxic people at its core

The PDC did a big u-turn in the way they went about the BDO, they gave them the little offer of picking their own players for the GSOD whilst at the same time the PDC went round the world setting up their own national tours and massively improving the JDC/Challenge tours culminating in making the people chose the challenge tour as a route and giving Qschool a massive incentive.

You now have a situation where the PDC has a full tour top to bottom, Junior, Youth, amateur, professional, top level and they have feeder systems from all round the world now. All the while the BDO are still thinking they have the best system for amateurs (ive seen it said so many times this weekend alone).

They don't realize the PDC have quietly made them completely irrelevant now. The media couldn't give a shit about them, TV companies only want the PDC tournaments leaving the BDO to having to go to minor stations. And this is why an ex player going to the BDO or someone that honestly thinks the BDO can compete is going to destroy them, they dont see that the BDO is no longer a competitor. Any buisnesman would tell them to back away and shore up their grass rotues.

The only thing they can do at this point is to work with the PDC. Offer themselves to take over the challenge tour/development tour, opening them up for everyone and making the big opens Challenge tour point and in exchange convince the PDC to offer a womens tour or something like that.

PDC have set up their own system, But this doesnt mean BDO should just simply pack up 1,000s of players (From across the world) still play in WDF/BDO competitions, and will continue to do so. Both orgs should provide opportunities & Safety nets for players. Its great that a majority of players from around the world can play in both orgs and can qualify for either worlds.

BDO shouldnt try and compete with the PDC. But it should offer an alternative, at the moment the Williams are not offering this as many players within the PDC could do with a few years playing in the BDO.

I dont disagree Chris I just think as long as the BDO exists in its current form its going to destroy itself because the people at the top level want to compete and are happy to throw money down the drain in doing so. Prime example is this farce of a tournament currently going on.

If Des decides to back away from that, put more money into the counties and Cat As/Bs, push these turkish events and other weekend cat A events over pointless TV events then fine, lets see how he gets on.

Personally I think they would be better off trying to speak to Hearne to see what they can do to secure themselves. Barry would jump at the chance of someone taking over the amateur tours, especially if the offer included the BDO coming under the PDCs banner. You would then do exactly what your asking for, you secure a future for the 1000s of pub and county players.

[in the gravy]

I don't actually think at the basis of it all there is a problem with the BDO's existence.

The problem is that they keep pushing major tournaments like Lakeside with a top heavy prize fund and then the likes of the World Trophy which has appalling presentation and drags the game into the gutter.

They need to speak to Hearn, get rid of these tournaments and redirect that money elsewhere into the system. Its pathetic. They don't even care that they lose a fortune staging these events, they do it simply do it as a bribe pretty much to stop their top players from moving over to the PDC.

[Duterprat]

Didn't he have a streak where he has been slagging off the BDO day in day out on social media/forums?
Even though he was right with it given of the shitty state of the organization for years now, I do not think that will be forgiven easily?
Plus, he is commentating on the PDC, which does also present a problem for some simple minds...

IMO he might actually be a good choice, though. And he can't possibly be worse than what we have seen at what is about to come next month.

[nikkiboy]

Why the hell would Chris want all that shit? He's got a decent media career going on and is in a happy place, to put yourself under that much pressure and scrutiny by taking over the BDO would be utter madness.

[The Jolly Man]

It was, I honestly don’t think it is now

Super league and county round here is the same faces playing every week that played 10 years ago, our county side is still largely decided by whose friends with who.

The young lads coming through are going straight down the singles route. Local Riley’s doing weekly tournaments with a final every 6onths for the best players, top 2 get qschool paid for them and the rest go any way. Mark Wilson getting through last year and getting a card is only going to push more young lads round here to give it a go.

As for the topic question the last thing the bdo needs is a ex player. They either need a businessman taking over or they need to seriously speed to hearne. Also I doubt mace would even do it, he’s not going to give up his pdc commentary and I bet if they offered him more gigs he would jump at it

The ship has certainly sailed with respect that the BDO could be an official feeder. The PDC have created a Developement and Challenge tour system for player 16-23 in the UK. JDC takes it even younger. They now have an Asian tour with over 128 players turning up at each of the first two weekends. I can’t see it slowing down to much with Japan and Philippines hosting two of the remaining weekends.

The PDC also has the DPA in Australia which is now starting to speed up the process of bringing through new players. The CDC which isn’t an official partner of the PDC yet is certainly doing everything they can to be like the PDC I’m sure they will start to produce players for the main tour in the next 5 years.

The PDC don’t need big turn over of players year on year. Yes they need players who can compete but if each tour found on average 2 new players a year that’s 12 players which is more than enough.

Why would the PDC want to deal with a brand that seems to have toxic people at its core

The PDC did a big u-turn in the way they went about the BDO, they gave them the little offer of picking their own players for the GSOD whilst at the same time the PDC went round the world setting up their own national tours and massively improving the JDC/Challenge tours culminating in making the people chose the challenge tour as a route and giving Qschool a massive incentive.

You now have a situation where the PDC has a full tour top to bottom, Junior, Youth, amateur, professional, top level and they have feeder systems from all round the world now. All the while the BDO are still thinking they have the best system for amateurs (ive seen it said so many times this weekend alone).

They don't realize the PDC have quietly made them completely irrelevant now. The media couldn't give a shit about them, TV companies only want the PDC tournaments leaving the BDO to having to go to minor stations. And this is why an ex player going to the BDO or someone that honestly thinks the BDO can compete is going to destroy them, they dont see that the BDO is no longer a competitor. Any buisnesman would tell them to back away and shore up their grass rotues.

The only thing they can do at this point is to work with the PDC. Offer themselves to take over the challenge tour/development tour, opening them up for everyone and making the big opens Challenge tour point and in exchange convince the PDC to offer a womens tour or something like that.

PDC have set up their own system, But this doesnt mean BDO should just simply pack up 1,000s of players (From across the world) still play in WDF/BDO competitions, and will continue to do so. Both orgs should provide opportunities & Safety nets for players. Its great that a majority of players from around the world can play in both orgs and can qualify for either worlds.

BDO shouldnt try and compete with the PDC. But it should offer an alternative, at the moment the Williams are not offering this as many players within the PDC could do with a few years playing in the BDO.

I dont disagree Chris I just think as long as the BDO exists in its current form its going to destroy itself because the people at the top level want to compete and are happy to throw money down the drain in doing so. Prime example is this farce of a tournament currently going on.

If Des decides to back away from that, put more money into the counties and Cat As/Bs, push these turkish events and other weekend cat A events over pointless TV events then fine, lets see how he gets on.

Personally I think they would be better off trying to speak to Hearne to see what they can do to secure themselves. Barry would jump at the chance of someone taking over the amateur tours, especially if the offer included the BDO coming under the PDCs banner. You would then do exactly what your asking for, you secure a future for the 1000s of pub and county players.

How many of the current BDO/WDF thousands would have no where to go if they did just stop? All the British based players would have somewhere to go. I would expect the PDC to either create its own Euro Challenge tour or something similar in the next few years but I’m sure they would if the WDF disappeared overnight. The Asian players now have a tour in the PDC that they don’t get anywhere else. A lot of the Aussie and NZ players already seem to switch codes.

[Murphio]

I - personally speaking - wouldn't like to see this happen - Mace could do without the hassle and - let's face it - so could the BDO. Nice thread - by the way - fanny you friverlous prock.

[chrismason]

Not quite sure where this has surfaced from? I have always been saddened by the demise of the BDO which was happening in the 80's and was happening whilst I played within the system throughout the 90's. Sadly as was the problem then it has continued, passion and love of the sport although admirable will not rescue the BDO, I neither have the knowledge or acumen to help them in anyway, ideas yes but look where thats got them so far! I wish them well in their endeavours and believe there will be some promising news re the World Championships that will be announced in the coming weeks, I hope sooner rather than later so the promotion of the event can be done correctly.

[Robson]

Not quite sure where this has surfaced from? I have always been saddened by the demise of the BDO which was happening in the 80's and was happening whilst I played within the system throughout the 90's. Sadly as was the problem then it has continued, passion and love of the sport although admirable will not rescue the BDO, I neither have the knowledge or acumen to help them in anyway, ideas yes but look where thats got them so far! I wish them well in their endeavours and believe there will be some promising news re the World Championships that will be announced in the coming weeks, I hope sooner rather than later so the promotion of the event can be done correctly.

I admire your honesty Chris -

Robson